Israelis take part in a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, on February 2, 2017. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Israeli police forces evacuate people from the synagogue of the illegal outpost of Amona, on the second day into the eviction on February 2, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israeli police forces evacuate people from the synagogue of the illegal outpost of Amona, on the second day into the eviction on February 2, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israeli police forces evacuate people from the synagogue of the illegal outpost of Amona, on the second day into the eviction on February 2, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Police officers remove protesters as they evacuate the synagogue at the West Bank outpost of Amona on February 2, 2017 (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israeli police forces prepare to evacuate the synagogue at the West Bank outpost of Amona on February 2, 2017. (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Graffiti daubed on the wall of Amona synagogue shows a swastika and the slogan 'Ishmael Police' -- a reference to the Israel Police force and to Ishmael, the son of the biblical patriarch Abraham believed by some to be the forebear of today's Arabs. (screen capture: Channel 2)

Protesters removed from the synagogue at Amona smash a window to escape after they were placed on a bus by police, during the outpost's evacuation on February 2, 2017 (screen capture: Channel 10)

The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s developments as they unfolded.

Police use battering ram to break into Amona synagogue

Police use a battering ram to break down the barricaded entrance to the synagogue at the Amona outpost.

Images on Israeli TV show the police officers forcing their way into the building and using their riot shields to protect themselves from projectiles being hurled from inside.

Police officers use their riot shields to deflect objects thrown by protesters as they try to force their way into the barricaded synagogue at the Amona outpost in the West Bank on February 2, 2017 (screen capture: Channel 2)

Police enter Amona synagogue, start removing protesters

Police: 5 cops hurt in Amona synagogue evacuation

Protesters injure five police officers during the evacuation of the Amona outpost’s synagogue, attacking them with chemicals, rocks, bottles and wooden boards, police say.

“These outlaws are not respecting the place where they’ve set themselves up,” the police say in a statement.

The police say they will “exercise restraint” so long as protesters refrain from violence, but if the situation deteriorates officers “will be uncompromising and will bring to justice all those who break the law.”

These five officers join 24 others who were injured over the course of the Amona evacuation, starting yesterday.

Police: Tear gas fired at Amona did not come from us

Police spokeswoman Merav Lapidot says the tear gas used during the evacuation of the Amona synagogue was not released by officers.

“We did not use those materials [tear gas]. It was [the protesters] who stockpiled and used these materials. … They used these and other materials against the police. The police continue to treat them with respect, even though just moments ago they threw iron bars at the police.”

Jewish Home MK: Attacking security forces is desecration of God’s name

Jewish Home MK Moti Yogev condemns protesters who attacked police during the evacuation at the synagogue at Amona, saying that such acts were a “desecration of God’s name.”

“The central question is whether an act sanctifies God’s name or desecrates God’s name,” he says, according to Walla.

“The demolition of the Amona settlement is undoubtedly a desecration of God’s name and must be protested. But raising a hand against a soldier or policeman, and the violent behavior of some in the synagogue against our brothers the police and the sanctity of a synagogue, are a desecration of God’s name.”

Amona residents claim synagogue rioters were not locals

Amona residents try to distance themselves from the violent actions of the protesters inside the outpost’s synagogue.

A spokesperson for the settlement says none of the people inside the synagogue was actually from Amona.

However, a number of Amona residents, including the outpost’s rabbi along with community leader Avichai Boaran, were inside the synagogue at the time of the clashes between protesters and police.

When confronted with this fact, the Amona spokesperson admits that a number of residents were in the building, but says they were there “with the intention of convincing [the protesters] to leave without violence.”

At some point, though it is not clear exactly when, demonstrators drew a swastika on a wall of the synagogue in a drawing that compared the Israel Police to Nazis.

Graffiti daubed on the wall of Amona synagogue shows a swastika and the slogan ‘Ishmael Police’ — a reference to the Israel Police force and to Ishmael, the son of the biblical patriarch Abraham believed by some to be the forebear of today’s Arabs. (screen capture: Channel 2)

PM: We all share in pain of evacuated Amona residents

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the whole country feels the distress of the settlers who were evacuated from Amona, but adds that the evacuation was unavoidable due to the demands of the law.

“We know [these are] difficult days,” he says during a visit to the settlement of Ariel. “We made every effort to avoid getting to this point, but ultimately we abide by the demands of the law because we are a law-abiding nation. I and you all share in the great pain of the families who were forced to leave their homes, who actually had to abandon their lives.”

42 cops, 15 protesters hurt during 2-day Amona synagogue evacuation

A total of 57 people, the majority of them security personnel, were lightly injured during the Amona evacuation efforts yesterday and today and taken to Jerusalem hospitals, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.

Of them, 42 were police and border guards, and 15 were protesters, MDA says.

The injuries ranged from hypothermia to light bruises. A police officer suffered chemical burns after a liquid was thrown in his face. Another officer’s shoulder was dislocated during the clashes with protesters, a Hadassah Hospital spokesperson says.

One person was also stung by a scorpion, the ambulance service says.

Twenty-seven people were taken to Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus, another 18 were taken to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kermem, and 12 were taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, MDA says.

Jewish Home MK: Bring synagogue vandals to justice

Jewish Home MK Moti Yogev says police must “bring to justice” the protesters who painted a swastika on the walls of the Amona synagogue.

During the evacuation of the illegal West Bank outpost, demonstrators drew graffiti in the synagogue, including one image that compared the police to Nazis, and the words “death to Zionists.”

The drawing, which parodied the Israel Police logo, featured a swastika and changed the name to “Ishmael Police,” a reference to the biblical character traditionally believed to be the ancestor of Muslims.

“Whoever writes ‘death to Zionists’ and draws a swastika on the walls of a synagogue excludes himself from the rest of Israel,” Yogev says, in a statement.

“It is a disgrace that should be investigated, and the criminal should be brought to justice,” he says.

On Wednesday, Yogev had visited the protesters to give them his support.

“Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile. Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!” Trump wrote, echoing similar comments yesterday by National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile.Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!

Herzog compares Amona synagogue rioters to Duma killers

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog compares the protesters who clashed with police during the evacuation of the Amona synagogue to the radical Jewish group responsible for the Duma firebombing, in which a Palestinian infant and his parents were killed.

“There’s a direct line between the violent rioters that we saw in the last hours of Amona and the underground movement that carried out the Duma massacre. A group of outlaws, with no connection to the law-abiding Amona residents and other settlers,” Herzog says in a statement.

“I said before this painful evacuation, we cannot allow violence of any time, especially not against police officers who are our sons,” he says.

“We must all come together at this time and protect democracy and the rule of law,” Herzog adds.

Egypt police arrest over 120 fans over soccer riot anniversary

iAn Egyptian lawyer says police have taken 37 soccer fans into custody overnight in Cairo, after arresting 80 others earlier in the day.

Mokhtar Mounir says the 80 were detained on suspicion they had planned to stage a protest to mark the anniversary of a 2012 soccer riot that killed 73 fans.

It wasn’t immediately clear on Thursday why the additional arrests were made.

Fans from Egypt’s Al-Ahly soccer club celebrate in Cairo on March 9, 2013, after a court confirms death sentences for 21 people over their roles in the deadly 2012 riot in Port Said that left more than 70 people dead. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

The 2012 riot in Port Said was Egypt’s worst soccer disaster and one of the world’s deadliest. Most of the victims were fans of Al-Ahly soccer club.

The hardcore Al-Ahly fans group known as “Ultras Ahlawy,” banned by authorities, canceled a planned commemoration after some of its members were arrested ahead of the anniversary. Five were charged with inciting protests and belonging to an outlawed group.

Police chief: We knew non-residents were arriving at Amona

Police chief Roni Alschiech says the police were aware of non-residents arriving at the Amona outpost ahead of its ultimately violent evacuation today and yesterday. These people, he says, were not under the authority of any public or educational leadership.

Israel Radio quoted Alscheich as pledging that police would prosecute all lawbreakers, using evidence gathered by officers during the operation to empty the settlement outpost in line with a court order.

Trump raps Schwarzenegger at National Prayer Breakfast

Trump is seeking prayers for Arnold Schwarzenegger over ratings for “Celebrity Apprentice” — the show the president once hosted.

Addressing the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Trump says ratings went “right down the tubes,” and the show has been a “total disaster” since the actor and former California governor debuted as host last month.

Trump tells the audience at the prayer breakfast: “I want to just pray for Arnold if we can.”

Responding in a brief video on his Twitter account, captioned “The National Prayer Breakfast?” Schwarzenegger suggests he and Trump switch jobs since Trump is “such an expert in ratings.”

Microsoft said aiding suit against Trump over travel ban

Computer giant Microsoft is helping the attorney general in Washington State with a lawsuit against Trump over his executive order banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority states from entering the US.

Sweden ‘strongly condemns’ wave of settlement construction approval

Sweden raps Israel for the recent wave of approval for thousands of houses in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem, saying the Stockholm government “strongly condemns” the move.

“The settlements constitute a flagrant violation of international law and contravene Security Council resolution 2334 on Israeli settlements, adopted on 23 December 2016,” the statement says, singling out the homes planned for East Jerusalem as “highly problematic.”

IDF officer loses promotion after documents stolen from car

IDF Chief Gadi Eisenkot cancels the promotion of an IDF colonel, who had classified documents stolen from his car last month, the army says.

On January 19, Col. Zaki Yefet was suspended from his position as chief engineering officer of the Northern Command, after a thief broke into his car, stealing sensitive documents and an encrypted army cell phone.

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot speaks at a conference at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya January 2, 2017. (Flash90)

Yefet is cleared to return to his current position. But after a conversation with Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, head of the Northern Command, Eisenkot decides to halt the planned appointment of Yefet to chief operations officer of the IDF Northern Corps, the army says.

Without this promotion, Yefet is now expected to retire from the military after he completes his tenure as chief engineering officer in February 2018.

The IDF Military Police’s investigation into the break-in and theft is ongoing, the army says.

Paul Ryan says he is open to tighter Iran sanctions

House Speaker Paul Ryan says he would be amenable to further sanctions on Iran over its recent test of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

“I’d like to put as much toothpaste back in the tube as possible,” Ryan tells reporters, accusing the Obama administration of “appeasing” the regime in Tehran.

“I think the last administration appeased Iran far too much,” he says. “I think they went too far with Iran and I think as a result Iran is far more activist than it otherwise would be.

“Iran don’t forget … is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Iran writes on their missiles in Farsi, Hebrew and English ‘Death to America’, ‘Death to Israel’ and then tests them. So this is not a friendly country that has global peace or national security interests in their minds.”

McCain calls Australian envoy after stormy Trump-Turnbull talk

Senior Republican Senator John McCain seeks to assure Australia that the United States remains a staunch ally following a tense discussion between President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over refugees.

McCain says in a statement that he spoke with Joe Hockey, Australia’s ambassador to the US, and expressed his “unwavering support for the US-Australia alliance.” The move came as Trump stressed the need for “tough” talk to make sure other nations don’t take advantage of the United States.

McCain, now in his sixth term in the Senate, has emerged as Trump’s top Republican nemesis in Congress. While GOP leaders on Capitol Hill have largely refrained from scolding the new president, McCain hasn’t been shy about calling Trump out.
— AP

Palestinian mayor vows new court bid to evict settlers

The mayor of Silwad, the West Bank town adjacent to the newly evacuated outpost of Amona, intends to petition Israel’s High Court to evacuate homes built on private Palestinian land in the nearby settlement of Ofra.

Silwad Mayor Abdul Rahman Saleh tells The Times of Israel that after winning the court battle to evacuate Amona, they are now “going to evacuate the settlers from Ofra.”

He adds: “It will take time, but I will try.”

Noting that Ofra was originally founded on a Jordanian military base, the mayor says he would be willing to accept the presence of Israeli soldiers there, but that the private Israeli homes are illegal and illegitimate.

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